


and empires will fall

by caelitea



Category: Persona 5
Genre: F/M, Implied Sexual Content, also AU where Goro's not an antagonist, potential harugoroakira ot3 if you squint...eyeball emojis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-03
Updated: 2018-07-03
Packaged: 2019-06-01 14:38:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15145307
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/caelitea/pseuds/caelitea
Summary: Haru Shido grows up a politician's daughter. Goro Okumura grows up a CEO's son.(Parent swap AU, told in a series of 100-word drabbles.)





	and empires will fall

**Author's Note:**

> I??? Got out of the shower and went "what if haru was shido's kid and actually learned a bunch of stuff from him while goro was okumura's kid and was treated pretty ok bc he's a business son" and...here we are. It's written as a bunch of 100 word drabbles bc i couldn't commit to seeing a full-on detailed fic through and word count challenges are fun :')
> 
> I meant this to be way more harugoro-esque but it kind of ran away from me and...¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

ONE—

Shido is not a good father, but he is, if nothing else, a thorough teacher. As a child, Haru felt isolated from her classmates, who seemed to have warm relationships with their parents—motherly advice, fatherly concern, kissing skinned knees and all that. Haru does not have a mother—at least, one that she remembers. Haru grows up learning how to hold herself, how to speak, who her enemies are and might be. She learns what’s worth giving up, and what’s not. 

Haru grows up a politician’s daughter: a pawn, and a weapon—and a very good one, at that.

 

TWO—

Despite it all, she is a soft woman—that is, with her big eyes and round face, it’s easy for people to underestimate her. She’s no wisp of a thing, but people always seem to read meekness in her curves, and something about knowing that she takes ballet classes furthers that assumption.

Haru uses this to her advantage. She prefers pastels and flowy clothing anyway, though Shido would probably prefer her as one of those noir movie femme fatales. But she doesn’t need her father’s lessons or opinions in this regard anymore—she can judge the situation for herself now.

 

THREE—

In a sense, Haru supposes she is grateful for her father’s lack of care. Shido was strict in her childhood, but once she started high school, it seemed that he could care less about what she did in her free time. She knows the rules—both spoken and unspoken—well enough to follow them by nature now.

So she ends up joining the school’s beautification committee, gardening even in her free time. It’s a simple thing, caring for something with her own hands. A simple love.

She thinks it’s probably the only thing preventing her from being a puppet entirely.

 

FOUR—

As Shido’s daughter, she’s paraded around just enough. She’s rarely on the TV screens—that’s her father’s stage—but she is at parties and small gatherings. People know of her and recognize her, but it’s best they don’t know her _too_ well, that they don’t get too familiar.

She goes and makes the right connections, bats her lashes and flirts convincingly. Not many people experience her sharp wit and tongue; there are times and places for those, but it isn’t often.

The parties tend to be a boring game, and a test of how well she can act before cracking.

 

FIVE—

She meets the Okumura son and the Sugimura son together. Sugimura is rude and distasteful, Okumura is pleasant but distant. Neither are particularly interesting. Sugimura is dismissive of her as a political rival because she’s a woman, but his eyes are attentive to her figure. Okumura is new to the political scene and his distance seems to be because he is avoiding making any kind of misstep. She wonders if he’s here because of his father, too.  

Haru begins seeing them more frequently at other parties. Eventually, she realizes they are both watching her.

She knows it’s for different reasons.

 

SIX—

Sugimura is an unpleasant drunk, only charming to people who don’t matter to him.

Haru knows, and has, what he wants—alcohol only makes him crueler and more cunning when it involves his goals. She’s interacted with him the bare minimum this party so it doesn’t seem like she’s avoiding him. Tucked away in an alcove by the windows, she watches.

“Don’t let him touch you,” someone whispers, and she responds without thinking, too focused on Sugimura’s body language.

“He won’t get the chance,” Haru mutters darkly. When she turns, realizing her mistake, the Okumura son is already walking away.

 

SEVEN—

She makes a point of watching Okumura after that. She knows that he knows, and it becomes a different sort of game.

He never drinks too much at events. He speaks with everyone who will speak to him, and handles those interactions well. He makes the connections he’s here for, but unlike some amateurs, he knows not to take or promise too much. He’s good at this, she realizes—he’s charismatic but not loud, which is why others underestimate him and mistake his attitude for nervousness.

He hasn’t spoken to her again. She wonders when he’ll start treading deeper waters.

 

EIGHT—

Haru’s glass is empty, its contents staining Sugimura’s white suit.

“Forgive me, my hand slipped,” she says, her voice just barely passing as apologetic, her eyes hard.

“You little _bitch_ ,” Sugimura snarls.

“I only thought you might like some wine to cool your tongue,” she says sweetly. “But it looks like something else needed the cooling more.”

Her eyes flicker to his pants; the guests who notice snicker, and Sugimura snarls again.

“Shall we get you a new glass, Miss Shido?”

A voice cuts in. Haru takes his proffered arm without turning.

“Yes, thank you.”

She walks away with him.

 

NINE—

Someone else takes care of Sugimura and the immediate situation blows over. In the morning, the man will be sober, Haru will send him a new suit, and the pretenses of civility will be kept.

For now, she stands with the Okumura son in the garden.

“That was skillfully done, Shido-san,” he says, expression amused.

“I could say the same of you,” she replies. He has her favor now, in the eyes of society. An excellent move. She makes her judgement then, not caring if her father disapproves. “Call me Haru.”

He smiles.

“Then call me Goro.”

They begin here.

 

TEN—

“So you’ve made friends with the Okumura heir,” Shido states, interrupting her teatime.

“By happenstance,” she responds. She pours her father tea and he takes a sip, never taking his eyes off of her.

“Sugimura is the better choice,” he says.

 _Sugimura is disgusting,_ she wants to say, but knows her father won’t care.

“He might be. Or might not be.” She’s careful not to speak too interestedly of Goro, for his sake and hers.

“You’d better not make a fool of yourself,” Shido warns before he leaves.

Haru thinks that she’d like to make _something_ of herself at all.

 

ELEVEN—

He’s already waiting by the time she finds the café, a cup of coffee halfway to his lips, a light novel in his other hand. When he notices her, he sets the book down and smiles.

“Pardon my lateness,” she murmurs as she sits.

“Not at all.”

He waves over the waitress, and Haru orders a coffee as well.

They sit in silence for a while, enjoying their drinks. Eventually Haru sets her cup down with a soft _clink_ and takes the initiative.

“So? What is it that you want?”

He hesitates.

“Nothing, for now. Just a chance.”

She smiles.

 

TWELVE—

They have coffee once a week in different locations. They’re careful not to let the paparazzi catch them; the two of them are hardly ever in the tabloids, but that doesn’t mean they can’t start to be.

At first their talk is—professional, discussing their parents’ positions, politics, and high society. It begins to blend with news and updates about the same topics, and then eventually they begin talking about themselves, their own societal involvements.

Neither of them have opened up entirely, not yet. But it’s a start, a semblance of trust.

Haru hopes neither of them will regret this.

 

THIRTEEN—

“Tell me something,” Haru says, after a few months. Goro looks up from his paperwork, eyebrows raised in curiosity.

She takes a sip of coffee first, the picture of composure and elegance.

“Did your father put you up to this?”

He stiffens. That is answer enough. She smiles a little sadly.

“Initially,” Goro says. “But you’re used to that. You…gave me the chance, anyway.”

She nods absently.

“I made my choice the night you offered me your arm after I made a proper enemy of Sugimura.”

Goro studies her. She holds his gaze until he smiles.

“Then I’ll make mine.”

 

FOURTEEN—

She’s in his apartment, an expense his father has allowed so long as Goro does his work and comes home every week.

It all seems very normal. Haru borrows his kitchen to make tea, Goro finds snacks to arrange on a plate.

She knows something is about to change.

After a few moments, Goro disappears into his room. When he comes out, he’s carrying a binder, his laptop, and a USB. He’s grave as sets these in front of her, having decided to go all in.

“This is what I’ve got about your father. What do you have about mine?”

 

FIFTEEN—

It’s hard to see a situation for what it is when you’re in the center of it. But growing up Shido’s daughter, there are some things she cannot miss. Haru knows about the underhanded deals, the threats and lies. Unfortunately, she just never knew the details.

Goro does. What he shares doesn’t surprise her, only cements a cold kind of fury in her heart.

Shido and Okumura have been making trades, hence Goro’s research, but it’s too obvious to look into his own father. Haru has always had information, and she gives it freely now.

From here, it’s a battle.

 

SIXTEEN—

The Phantom Thieves start dominating the media and Haru and Goro read the news with growing interest. Whatever the Thieves are using, it’s _working_.

The two of them have been doing what they can, covertly making sure fewer people get hurt—or too hurt. The problem is, they have less influence than they think, so they’re not yet ready for a full frontal war.

“We should…” Goro begins, uncertain, and Haru smiles.

“Ask for their help?”

He smiles back.

“If we can pin them down. There are plenty of fakes, and fake sites.”

“Another thing to work on,” Haru murmurs.

 

SEVENTEEN—

At a politician’s notable anniversary event, Sugimura launches trouble in his signature style—loudly and publicly.

“So, Haru,” he says airily, “You’ve been away at night recently—who else’s bed have you been sleeping in besides mine?”

Haru blinks, and Sugimura is producing pictures of a lookalike with different men. The crowd is already clamoring; loosely sleeping is one thing, infidelity is another. The damage is done, no matter what she says.

She can’t afford a scandal right now. How can she lessen the repercussions?

As it turns out, she doesn’t have to do anything—Goro does it for her.

 

EIGHTEEN—

“Odd,” Goro says as he puts an arm around her. “That can’t be possible, since _I’ve_ been keeping Haru properly occupied. I wonder just who it is you’ve been mistaking for her?”

Haru’s face flames from the implication of his words, which the crowd takes as proof as to who’s telling the truth.

Goro takes the pictures from Sugimura and smiles.

“If you knew her as well as you claimed, you’d see the differences easily enough,” he says smugly. “It looks like you’ve been poorly conned, Sugimura-san.”

Sugimura sputters, humiliated again, and they’ve got a different scandal at hand, now.

 

NINETEEN—

Their fathers get to them first.

Shido is disappointed—he only believes what he wants to believe, and at the moment, it’s not Haru.

“Make yourself scarce,” he scowls, “Until this blows over.”

Okumura is conflicted; he’d wanted connections with the Shidos, but not quite like this.

“Just…lay low for a while,” he sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Well,” Goro coughs, when he and Haru finally have a chance to speak. Haru doesn’t even know what to say. “Would you…like to spend the night?”

She bursts out laughing. At this point, what answer can she give but yes?

 

TWENTY—

“This isn’t what they meant when they said to lay low,” Haru points out as they step into Goro’s apartment, and he chuckles.

“What they don’t know won’t hurt them. Besides, we have things to do.” He holds up a business card. “I have a lead.”

“Oh?”

Haru takes the card and raises an eyebrow. _Ohya Ichiko, Investigative Journalist_.

“Sounds like paparazzi to me,” she says.

“She seemed a bit more than that. She did give me a name— _Alibaba_.”

Haru hums thoughtfully.

“Well, we have the whole night ahead, and then some.”

Goro laughs.

“Still, we’d better get started.”

 

TWENTY ONE—

“I’m not taking your bed,” Haru says when they finally stop for the night at 3AM.

“The couch isn’t that comfortable,” Goro insists as he goes to get extra pillows and blankets.

“All the more why you shouldn’t be sleeping on it,” Haru replies.

They bicker back and forth before she scoffs, “Fine—just sleep in the bed _with_ me.”

Goro freezes. She smiles wryly.

“We’ve already caused a scandal anyway, haven’t we?”

He hesitates, but relents. It’s less awkward than they’d imagined; they fit snugly on the bed together, and because of the hour, they fall asleep without trouble.

 

TWENTY TWO—

They quickly form a routine, and become more comfortable with sharing the bed.

Haru is an early riser, Goro is a late one. By the time he’s up she has coffee or tea or both ready and breakfast in the works.

“Your face says you’re going to tell me I don’t have to do this,” she says after the first time, “But I want to.”

Goro has to admit it’s pleasant—certainly an improvement over what he cooks. Haru enjoys playing at domesticity, something that was always missing from her household.

It becomes easy, being together—and that’s the danger.

 

TWENTY THREE—

She can’t sleep.

After tossing and turning for a while she turns towards Goro, inching her fingers towards his. He startles her when he holds her hand.

“You were awake?” she breathes.

“Heard you,” he mumbles sleepily. She whispers an apology, stroking his knuckles with her thumb.

His breath hitches, and Haru—well, Haru is curious.

“Goro-kun,” she starts. “Do you want to try it with me?”

“…Are you sure?”

“If I only do this once, I’d like it to be with you,” she admits. “If…you want to.”

He puts a hand on her cheek.

The night keeps their secrets.

 

TWENTY FOUR—

It’s one of those late mornings. Haru’s back in bed after making tea, back propped up by pillows. Goro is still dozing. He’s migrated onto her lap, face tucked into her stomach. She plays with his hair with one hand, checking the news on her phone with the other.

Her father hasn’t asked where she is. To the media, he just says she’s reflecting on her actions. Goro’s father has said he’s working from home for a while.

How like them.

Haru sighs and closes the window, and something else catches her eye.

She doesn’t remember downloading this red app.

 

TWENTY FIVE—

Goro has the app too, and neither of them can figure out what it does. It comes back even after they delete it, and there’s no additional information available. There’s nothing to do but to leave it.

But one day they’re talking about Goro’s father, and suddenly the world around them is changing. They’re in some sort of space port with little robots and other creatures bustling around. Haru and Goro try and remain out of sight in this strange world, but the creatures seem to ignore them for the most part.

They exchange glances.

Another thing to look into.

 

TWENTY SIX—

They see the Phantom Thieves one day, just as Haru and Goro are leaving the other world. They glimpse six people and a catlike creature jumping across the scaffolding—surprise registers on everyone’s faces, and though they reenter immediately, the Thieves are gone.

Later that day, they receive a message.

_You’ve been looking for me. –Alibaba_

“Jackpot,” Goro murmurs.

 _A pleasure to meet you…again, should I say?_ Haru types. _We’d like your assistance._

_What do you have to offer?_

Haru smiles.

_Influence, wealth, information. And also ourselves, if needed._

There’s a pause.

_We’ll have to meet first. Tomorrow night?_

_Accepted._

 

TWENTY SEVEN—

It’s odd, meeting a group of masked personnel while Haru and Goro are still in civilian wear. But they hold their countenances well—they aren’t a politician’s daughter and a CEO’s son for nothing.

“I know you!” the girl with goggles blurts. “Haru Shido and Goro Okumura. Is it true you eloped?!”

“Ah…” Haru and Goro trail off in surprise.

“ _Oracle_! You can’t just ask people that!” The one in the skull mask yells.

“Oh, _come on_! It was such a big scandal!”

Laughter bubbles in Haru’s throat, and both she and Goro are cracking up before they know it.

 

TWENTY EIGHT—

They get introductions squared away first and gossip cleared up after. Queen, Skull, and Panther seem disappointed that the rumors aren’t true, and Haru wants to laugh again.

“So?” Joker’s soft voice draws their attention again. “We always get requests, but this is the first time we’ve had someone other than the police seek us out in such a detailed way. And you’ve too much to offer to our group all at once. Why?”

“Ah. You’re intrigued,” Haru smiles, and Joker smiles back.

“And can you keep that intrigue?”

Oh, she likes him. And so does Goro, she can tell.

 

TWENTY NINE—

Joker is right and he knows it—they aren’t doing this out of pure altruism. Goodwill is part of it, but all of the Phantom Thieves have been wronged in some way, leading to the creation of their group at all.

“We want a choice,” Goro says eventually, holding each of the Thieves’ gazes in turn. “We grew up a CEO’s son and a politician’s daughter. Your upbringing isn’t something you can just completely abandon. But we want to make something of it.”

Joker and Queen catch on, their eyes gleaming.

“What are you trying to get at?”

Goro grins.

 

THIRTY—

The Phantom Thieves have been undeniably effective. In the cases of Kamoshida and Madarame, their defamation solved a longstanding problem and life went on.

But in instances like Kaneshiro’s case…Haru and Goro know what will follow in his absence. They’ve been—and are still—on the inside of the way such things work.

“The Phantom Thieves have done well bringing down individual evils,” Goro explains. “But we’d like to work on something larger.”

A slow grin spreads over Joker’s face, his expression wicked. Queen’s eyes grow thoughtful.

“What?” Skull presses impatiently, and Haru smiles.

“We want to dismantle the system.”

 

THIRTY ONE—

Haru and Goro pass the Thieves’ unofficial test with flying colors. They’ve made plans to meet in person next week so that the two can get up to speed as to what that other world is, how the Phantom Thieves operate, and where to go from there.

The two are exhausted when they return, but they clasp hands when they fall onto the bed with laughter.

“We’ve made incredible progress,” Goro muses.

Haru smiles and squeezes his hand tighter.

“We can do it,” she murmurs, “We _will_ do it.”

Something burns in her now, something beautiful and strong and _alive_.

 

THIRTY TWO—

After three months, her father sends a text: _come home_. Haru reads it with disinterest. She could read it in the tone of a concerned father, but she’s not a fool.

It’s time for her to step back into the world she was raised in—except with a new awareness, and a new agenda.

When she tells Goro, he stares at her like he forgot she doesn’t actually live here before dropping something onto her palm.

Haru stares at the spare key with wonderment.

“Just let me know if you come around,” he says shyly.

She laughs and kisses him.

 

THIRTY THREE—

“I won’t ask where you’ve been,” Shido says the moment she walks in. She smiles vaguely and he narrows his eyes. “Your scandal’s died down because the Phantom Thieves are headlining again; you’ll handle the remains on your own. Tomorrow, you’ll have tea with the Matsuzakis, and a meeting with Tsukishiro…”

Haru doesn’t even need to speak as Shido sets her schedule.

She plays a far more dangerous role now, and will have to walk desperately fine lines to turn the tides in her favor. But she’s always done well with high stakes.

She’s learned from the best, after all.

 

THIRTY FOUR—

Leblanc is quiet like it usually is. Soon it’ll be noisy, when the rest of the gang gets here. But for now, Haru and Akira share a moment. Their plans are moving slowly but surely, and despite the danger of it all, she feels calm. The TV is on low, the smell of curry and coffee in the air.

“You’re formidable,” Akira says fondly, and Haru is surprised for a moment before she laughs, delighted.

“Yes, I am,” she says.

Akira grins, and when the door opens and the rest of the Thieves file in, Haru feels right at home.

**Author's Note:**

> Shido would still be a shitty dad, but as the better manipulator, I like the idea that he would have taught Haru about a bunch of stuff so as to better use her, unlike Kunikazu who kept Haru in the dark a lot (Haru with Ultimate Empress Potential?!). Though I think Shido would be overconfident that Haru would remain under his thumb, he wouldn't be totally blind, either, so Haru going against Shido as her father would be a much stronger battle of wits, connections, and...manipulation too, I suppose, which could go dangerously. Also, as his daughter whom he actually raised, he'd be relying on her/trusting her a bit more implicitly than he would have Goro in canon, I think, who approached Shido as a stranger.
> 
> Goro as Okumura's son...I think he'd grow up to be a bit more mellow. He'd still have all the pressure of being a successor, so he'd still be a star student and charismatic and all that, and still retain that streak of sarcastic-with-a-pleasant-smile. But I think without much of the same trauma to start his descent into rage and obsession...he'd just be a lot more of the character he was outwardly presented to be?? But he'd still grow up a bit isolated and lacking affection, so the strong sense of loneliness would still be there. 
> 
> I had a bunch of thoughts I'd meant to include at the end of this, but unfortunately I kept coming up with them before I'd fall asleep, so now I don't remember...ah well, thanks for reading!


End file.
